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6 Ways To Hack Conversions By Building Better Calls To Action

When it comes to CTAs, the last thing you want to do is overwhelm a prospect.

Calls to action are a web company’s best friend and closest ally. As you should know, calls to action are used to prompt a user or visitor to take some specific action; whether that’s to subscribe to a newsletter, download a piece of content, or start using a product. If done right, setting up appropriate calls to action are the most effective way to up conversions. Most importantly, your call to action statement has to be short and precise to be effective enough. If you want to win users, here are a few things you must do to make your calls to action more appealing.

As digital marketers, we’re all looking to convert leads into customers, but that will never be done without clear calls to action. Successful calls to action mean you’re guiding a site visitor through the user experience. Here are 7 hacks to generate more conversions by building better calls to action.

1. Simplicity Is Sophisticated

You must keep things simple for the visitors. What we mean by that? Even though the call to action is important for successful conversions, keeping things simple is always desirable because visitors will find the experience intuitive or natural, rather than overwhelming. Dropbox is an ultimate example – above the fold on their homepage, there is one clear call to action; the “Sign Up” button. On that note, Hubspot and CMI suggest using action words on CTA buttons. Phrases like “download now” “start free trial” and “get started” perform better than overused terms like “submit.” Let your user know that their submission is a beneficial action. Lastly, prospects may want to learn more about the company before clicking a call to action, so sometimes it’s best to add an above the fold button that simply leads the prospect to learn more about the product/service. Neil Patel notes that having an above the fold call to action actually led to a 17% decrease in conversions on his site.

2. Urgency Is Key

It goes without saying that your offer has to be something that visitors find attractive. You can talk about a current promotion, offer fresh downloadable content, or even display a limited-time free packages. Whatever you do, make sure to showcase it in a way so customers know they’re missing out if they don’t click. If there’s a sense of urgency or exclusivity (“limited time only” “free until MM/DD/YYYY” “first 50 customers only”), it will prompt a visitor to take action right away, rather than wait for a more convenient time.

3. Make An Offer They Can’t Refuse

Image: twtrland.com

Rate of conversions largely depends on how the customer will benefit. What is a potential customer missing out on by not buying your product or using your service? By displaying some data about what the prospect’s business could look like if they were using your product/service, they would realize they’re missing out on a truly great opportunity. Here’s your chance to compare industry data to your current customer base’s data. Clearly demonstrate to the prospect how using your product/service will improve their business.

4. A Little Humor Never Hurt Anyone

When I say that, I mean it’s okay to add a little humour or sarcasm to your call to action statement. Here’s the thing about online businesses – every prospect and site visitor knows your motive is one thing: to convert. We all know that every SaaS or eCommerce site is an elaborate, involved sales pitch. If most companies are displaying nearly identical calls to action, it can get dull and the visitor may automatically tune out repetitive CTAs. If you’re going to make an on-site sales pitch (and let’s hope you are), you might as well have a little fun with it (if that kind of tone is appropriate to your type of business). While not pre-customer calls to action, MailChimp often has fun wording in their buttons that give their company a playful tone and a unique voice.

5. You can Put a Call to Action on Almost Every Page

Will it make a difference? Of course it will. Like I mention above, keep it simple on your homepage with one clear above-the-fold call to action. On the rest of your website’s pages, you can display various calls to action that are relevant to that page. Bonus! This could be a good opportunity to do a sort of A/B test if you display two completely differently worded calls to action on two pages of your site that receive similar traffic.

6. When It Comes To Forms, Know Your Sales Cycle

Image: unbounce.com

When it comes to the forms that accompany your call to action buttons, you have to know exactly what your company’s sales cycle looks like. What pieces of information do you really need right off the bat? Do you need phone numbers, or can you do fine with just name and email address? Do you need to know the customer’s company? Their position at the company? Unbounce notes that one company saw a 120% increase in conversions by reducing their form fields from 4 to 11. It may suit your company best to do a simple form right off the bat (name and email address), then send the customer to a more involved form (phone number, credit card number, company, etc.) after the jump.

Now that you’ve read my 6 conversion hacks using better calls to action, you should realize that calls to action are all about guiding the user. With an understanding of who your prospects are, what their experience at your website is like, and what your sales process looks like, you should be able to implement killer calls to action that are converting like crazy.

This is a guest post by Jason Smith – an online manager for Havahart. He likes blogging about online strategies that are related to SEO, Content, PPC & Lead generation.